


Let the damn thing fly

by AsheTarasovich (natalieashe), Boffin1710



Series: Can't Drown My Demons, They Know How To Swim [42]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 00Q00 - Freeform, Arguing, Boys In Love, Fights, M/M, Spy 101, The things we don't say, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 19:40:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15713781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalieashe/pseuds/AsheTarasovich, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boffin1710/pseuds/Boffin1710





	Let the damn thing fly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dassandre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dassandre/gifts).



Alec slammed the door of the Range Rover furiously and stormed up to the front door of the flat.  He cursed M’s very existence under his breath, and added colourful commentary on the stupidity of skinny little boffins who thought they knew fucking better.  He had talked to Q about M’s thoughts. Had told him in no uncertain terms why it was a suicidal mission that he was not to accept under any circumstances, and what had the little shite done..? Only gone directly to M and volunteered!!

The front door slammed into the hall wall, and then back into its frame, bouncing open again until Alec smacked his large palm against the wood and made sure it was locked.  Even furious he was never careless, but that couldn’t be said for Q clearly. He stormed into the kitchen where Q was reviewing intel that M had sent through, bypassing all the usual channels, and completely discounting Alec’s advice.  No, not advice, warnings. Plain and simple.

“You’re not doing it.  I’ve spoken with M and told him it’s not happening.  I’ll go over his fucking head if I need to. He can send an agent instead.  Someone who is actually trained to deal with this kind of thing, not a bloody techie.”

“Everything is in place Alec.  They are expecting me the day after tomorrow.  It’s too late to change anything now, and there's no way I can bring an agent up to speed in the time.  They need an actual hacker, not someone with rudimentary programming skills.”

“You’re not doing it.” Alec loomed over him.  “Call M and tell him.”

“No, I will not.  And why do you think he wanted me to do this in the first place.  I am a hacker, Alec. Just what do you think my past is and how I got to be where I am.  I can handle this. I may be sheltered within MI6 now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve always been.  I know what I’m doing. 

“Call M and tell him” Alec snapped at him again.

"No!  What the fuck do you think gives you the fucking right to...?  No, just no!" Q slammed the lid of the laptop shut and glared furiously at the pacing agent.  Alec continued to rant, not heeding the warning tone in Q's voice, dictating what should happen, what Q should be feeling, doing, experiencing...

"You're not even listening to me" Q tried, stepping in to Alec's path, but he just moved past him, hands on his shoulders, moving him out of the way like he was an abandoned box.  An obstacle to the way things were supposed to be. Alec continued to rage, hands flailing, finger stabbing at Q like he was personally to blame. 

Alec shed his jacket, tossing it carelessly on the sofa.  yanked at his tie like it was strangling him and when the knot refused to lose he raged more, fighting with his own clothing and swearing up a storm.  You must not. You should not. 

Q bit his tongue.  Tried to anyway. his fingers curled around the solidity of the laptop as Alec loomed and made  his demands. His orders. You will not. I will not tolerate. You have no right to...

Q stepped back, reeling. What the actual fuck did this man think he was?  Must not, will not, should not. He wasn't fucking there half the time, yet he felt he had the right to dictate?

The laptop swung in a smooth arc.  Connected with Alec's jaw in spite of the instinctive thrown up forearm.  Q let go. Let the damn thing fly. All his frustration and anger and fury at the wanker that had been spouting at him for almost an hour! because it was Alec's thoughts. Alec's feelings. Alec's fucking opinions that mattered.  Not his!

The laptop rocked Alec's head back, hard edged plastic weighted with technology slamming into his jaw.  his forearm lifted it, so the entire thing flipped, upended, broad flat lid smacking into the side of his head.  Pain exploded down the left side of his face, completely derailing him from his train of thought. instead he focused down on to the disobedient, insubordinate little shite of a man who had thrown the damn thing at him.

Q's eyes were wide, frightened. His mouth a tight O of horror at what he'd done.  Well fuck that! Alec was pissed. Alec was more angry than he had ever been in his goddamn fucking life!  This little shite... Geeky, techie, office-based little fucker... thought he knew better...

The laptop's course altered, crashing to the ground in a crack of plastic and clunk of metal.  The lid opened slightly, enough to spit a couple of keys from its' abused mouth. Q cried out as his precious machine bounced across the vinyl tiles.  Alec cursed as he reached for the skinny little boffin.

"You little shite!" bellowed the huge muscled man.  One hand gripped Q's bicep, the other curled around his throat, propelling him backwards into the kitchen door.  The wood rattled under the impact, the entire wall bracing itself for the onslaught. The crushing band of Alec's fingers forced his head back, throat fluttering and straining against the pressure of the violent man's hand.  "You do what i say. You listen to me, if you want to be safe."

"And if I just want to be left alone?" Q challenged, facing down the furious blond who appeared ready to savage him.

"There is no such thing as safe if you don't listen."  Alec's fingers tightened on his throat, angry spittle landing on Q's chin as the Russian interspersed curses from his home land with orders for his lover.  "I am not saying this as an agent. I am telling you, as your lover, you will not fucking do this."

Fingers tightened in frustration, biting into pale skin.  Q fought against it but the weight of love and lover combined were too great.  Stars popped out of the bright kitchen light, planets fought with dust motes in the sunlight.  "You'll do what you're fucking told Quartermaster, or face losing me."

James parked a short distance down from their flat, heading towards the front entrance way.  He wasn’t even halfway to the door and he could hear the loud voices coming from inside the flat.  Loud angry voices. 

“Fuck…” he muttered and quickened his pace.  Life was too short to waste on energy expended in arguing.  Moments were meant to be savoured not wasted. Arguments didn’t happen often between them.  But when they did, they were spectacular. Alec and Q had mastered the art of it also. 

James hurried to close the door behind him before half  the street became curious. Halfway down the hall he stepped over Q’s laptop that seemed to be missing some keys that were scattered across the floor, and flinched when a body hit the wall on the other side.  

Alec was roaring, half of his words completely unintelligible.  James rounded the corner to find him snarling into Q’s face which was turning puce from the pressure on his neck.  Q’s eyes were rolling and he batted weakly at Alec’s chest and arms, tried to kick out also.

“What the hell…?  Alec?! Alec, for fucks sake!”  James yanked hard on the collar of Alec’s shirt, dragging it tight against his throat.  At the same time he aimed a fist at Alec’s kidney, not hard enough to fell him, but enough to distract him from his anger.

Alec whirled to face his assailant, and Q slid inelegantly down the wall, gasping for breath and rubbing at his throat.  James just had a moment to ask “ok?” before Alec turned his fury his way.

James felt Alec’s fist brush just millimeters by his face managing to just in time duck enough to escape it smashing into his nose. “What the fuck is going with you two?” James snarled grabbing Alec’s arm at the elbow attempting to stave off another punch.

“He… I….” Q gasped still trying to catch his breath, snuggling to at least get to his knees and out of the way of the two larger men grappling above him.

“Shut it you little shite!  What didn't you understand about you’re not doing it.” Alec shouted at Q taking another swing at James with his other arm this time managing to connect with the side of James’ face.

James managed to land a punch to Alec’s side just under his ribs that were still healing from his last mission causing him to double over in pain.  It gave James just enough advantage over his equally skilled partner allowing him to shove Alec up against the same wall he had Q pinned to a few moments earlier.   

“Stop it. Now Alec, before I put you on the floor!”  He leaned his full weight, pinning Alec in place, both of them breathing heavily.  “Q, are you hurt?”    
  
Q shook his head, “not really...”   
  
“Then go sit over there!”  James nodded towards the counter where Q had been working.  “No, leave the laptop where it is.”   
  
Q sulked, but at James’ warning glare he eased cautiously into the stool.  He wasn’t truly hurt but he felt battered and unsteady.   
  
James faced his partner who was still looking angrily at Q over James’ shoulder.  “Calm it down Alec. We’re going to discuss this without the use of fists. Understand?”

“M assigned me to a mission.  I said yes. Alec said no.” Q muttered from the other side of the kitchen.  

“Damn right I said no. Get yourself killed.”  Alec snarled back immediately. 

“Both of you!  Stop it! I ask the questions without any extra comments from either of you,” Bond snapped at both of them.  “Bad enough the entire neighborhood knows you are fighting but you can at least stop snapping at each other for 5 minutes.”

“If I let you go can you be sensible and not try to kill off our lover before he gets himself killed on a mission as you say.  Slightly oxymoron wouldn’t you say, Alec.” James gave him another shove into the wall just to make his point. 

Alec just growled at him but didn’t shove back. “I’ll take that as a yes.  And you,” he pointed a finger at Q. “Keep your sassy mouth closed for a few minutes until I get to you.”

Q muttered something under his breath but James didn’t ask him to repeat it.  Instead he eased off Alec and sent him to the opposite side of the kitchen. Growling, Alec went, making a show of grabbing a drink as if that was the only reason he had obeyed.

“Alright.  What is this mission?  Q. You first.” James held up a warning hand for Alec to be silent.

“There’s a particularly sticky cell of hackers that we have been watching for some time.  They had links with Spectre and were instrumental in obtaining and sharing intelligence gleaned from Nine Eyes.  They have a new financial backer and are on the rise. They also happen to have approached me to work for them.”

“You?  Q?”

“No. Me, in one of my other incarnations.  I have contacts… keep my hand in… For me to disappear completely would have caused consternation in certain quarters, so I ensure I’m visible fleetingly.”

James looked disapproving.  “Do I want to know?” Turning to Alec, “Did you know?”

“That the little shite still has a few lucrative contracts on the side?”  Alec scowled. “I suspected. He’s not playing fucking Minesweeper when he can’t sleep at 3am. But this lot don’t want a faceless hacker, they want to employ him in some kind of collective.  Want a face to face meet and M has bloody accepted his offer to go in.”

“Hacking… doesn’t sound life threatening, even with Spectre involved.”  James tried to reason with Alec, seeking more. Q was avoiding his eyes.

“What he hasn’t told you is he wasn’t their first choice.  Not even their second. But his two predecessors aren’t any kind of competition anymore.  One was fished out of the Seine with arms and legs bound. He drowned. The other was found in the deep freeze of a hotel kitchen in Split.  Minus his hands and eyes. Posts on certain forums suggested they failed to achieve what they were employed to do.”

“And what makes you think I can’t deliver what they want?” Q shot back at Alec.

“You little shite!”  Alec snarled back at him trying to push past James.

“They went for the cheaper options to start with.  My “fees” seemed to be beyond what they were willing to pay at first.  Now it seems…”

“You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“I know what I’m doing Alec!”

“Both of you stop it” James bellowed, hand pressed to Alex’s chest stopping him for grabbing up Q again and a finger pointedly telling him to stay put.  “Do I need to time out both of you like the toddlers you are acting like?!”

“He started it” Q snipped.  “And I still say I know what I’m doing.”   James half expected the Quartermaster to stick his tongue out at them like 5 year old. 

“Alright,”James sighed,  “we’ll get nowhere if you can’t stop antagonising one another.  Alec, you know that M has the authority to send Q, regardless of our wishes.”

“So you agree with me!”  Alec crowed, smirking at Q who scowled darkly.

“Let me finish!  I agree it’s risky, and I’m uncomfortable with it, however, I trust Q’s judgement in his abilities.  He’s not one to overextend himself in this kind of situation. He would be discovered and killed immediately if he did that, am I right?”  Looking to Q for confirmation.

Q nodded.  “I swear, James.  I’ve already done some work… put out some feelers and done the equivalent of your recon.  I know I can get what they want.”

“And then what?” James interrupted before Alec could speak, likely to ask the same question.  “You get what they need and I assume that isn't the end of it? They aren’t going to let you just walk out of there, so what is your plan to extricate yourself?”

“I think that is where Mallory thought that  you two come into play.” Q began. “Unless you don’t think you’re up to it, Alec.  I could request 004 step in and handle my retrieval,” poking at the agent. 

“If you think for one minute you are going to keep me off this mission and let Scarlett…” Alec shoved past James.

“See you agree with me that there is a mission. Problem solved.  No more argument.” A smug triumphant smile crossed Q’s face 

“I swear to god if you two are going to argue the entire time on this mission, no one is going to come out alive.  The hacker cell will probably turn themselves in pleading for mercy just to not have to deal with you two bickering.”  James shook his head, sighing in frustration. 

“I am still not saying yes to this until every part of this mission is worked out in detail.  Every part.” Alec snapped at Q before stomping out of the room heading to the garden. And when his back was turned, Q did stick his tongue out at his partner.  

“Mature, Q.” James scolded.  “How do you expect him to q take you seriously if you resort to childish gestures?  And what’s the story with the laptop? Yes, you may pick it up now I suppose.”

Q scurried to retrieve his precious but badly abused tech, pressing the scattered keys back into place.  Two were clearly beyond repair but then the laptop had seen better days and was missing at least one other from a previous mishap.  “I hit him with it,” he mumbled.

James waited a few seconds for Q to put the computer on the counter before he grabbed for Q’s wrist holding it firmly.  “You did what?”

“He made me-”

“Unacceptable, Q.  An apology is in order before we sit down to plan out this scheme that you and Mallory have concocted.  If you are relying on the two of us to get you out unharmed I will not have bad feeling going into it. Do you understand?  Make your peace with Alec and then we’ll sit down and have a rational discussion.”

“But he-”

“Don’t care.  You don’t want to be treated as a child, so stop behaving as one.  Now go! I’ll be out soon.”

Q slowly made his way to the open garden door.  Alec stood at the far side of the garden, back to the door, cigarette in hand.  Q dropped to sit on the outside steps silently watching his partner for a few moments. It had been a long time since he and Alec had gotten into such a physical fight.  Of course there were times that they yelled at each other viciously, but rarely did it come to blows like it had today. 

Alec turned and glanced his way, knowing he was there. Of course he did.  Agent reflexes would tell him so. 

“I’m sorry,” he finally sighed. “I shouldn’t have smacked you with my laptop.  Was out of line.” Standing he made his way over to where Alec stood stopping a few feet away avoiding Alec’s personal space.  He hoped Alec had cooled down but best not to take any chances and start the entire argument over again. 

He couldn’t go into this mission, if he was going to do it, with Alec being upset with him.  

“Not much scares me Q, but you putting yourself in danger deliberately is one.”  Alec spoke quietly, didn’t turn around. There were things they didn’t say to one another...    
  
“And don’t tell me that James and I do it all the time.  It’s different, and you know it is. A whole level of training, of skill, of... ice cold detachment and a willingness to kill or die, depending what Queen and Country calls for.  You might think you have it, but you don’t.”   
  
“But I have other skills, Alec.  Guile, attention to the smallest detail, a long history of covering my tracks...  I’m not saying it won’t be dangerous, but I know that I will have the best backup I could ask for.”   
  
Alec’s shoulders slumped in defeat and he finally turned to face Q.  A dark bruise was already marring Alec’s face and he rubbed at his jaw.     
  
“Um... I’ll fetch some ice for that...”   
  
“Already on it” James appeared carrying an ice pack wrapped in a towel and handing it to Alec who applied it gingerly. 

“Alright Alec? Q?” James looked from one man to the other. Both were stubborn, egotistical, and more emotional attached to each other than either would ever admit.  Alec nodded to him while Q’s fingers gingerly touched him neck which would undoubtedly have bruising in the morning. 

“Are you two done for the night?  Can we come to some sensible agreement for now on this situation?” James chided them both.  Q still stood with some space between himself and Alec anticipating things would get physical once more if they attempted to talk about things again. 

“‘Suppose….” Q huffed back at him.  

“Do not start it anymore tonight, you little shite.” James pointed a finger at him.  “Or you either.” in Alec’s direction. “Or you’re both banned from the bedroom.” 

“We’re going too,” Alec still insisted stubbornly staring James down steadily, but the heat had dissipated from his words.  “If he insists on being foolish.”   
  
James acknowledged Alec’s fading fury with a nod.  “While you two were out here I made contact with M’s office.  We have a briefing - all three of us - tomorrow. Until then the damned thing will not be mentioned. Agreed?.”   
  
Assuming the pair knew better than to continue the fight, James turned away from them and headed back into the flat.  With a look over his shoulder “I assume the two of you can resist killing each other long enough to eat dinner? Thai delivery in 20 minutes.”

Silence fell over the garden, Alec and Q now regarding each other warily.

“Is it wrong to-“

“I don’t mean to-“

They both stopped and Q smiled nervously, risking a step closer to Alec putting himself in arms reach.  

“You first.” Alec growled.

Q met Alec’s eyes and tried to let everything he felt for him show in his face while simply saying “I don’t mean to worry you.”

Alec’s broad hand came to rest against the side of Q’s face.  They both pretended Q’s flinch away was nothing more than surprise at being touched so tenderly following their violent altercation.  Alec was silent, searching for something in Q’s eyes he needed to see. 

He must have found it because suddenly Q found himself grabbed in a crushing embrace, Alec’s lips crashing against his in a desperate kiss.  After a shocked moment Q circled Alec’s waist, clawing and clinging to Alec’s clothing to survive the onslaught of an unexpected and much different form of assault.

Alec started to gentle the kiss when he felt Q respond, but it simply gave Q a chance to press forth his own sweet attack, showing Alec what he needed to feel where words were not enough. Finally they pulled back from the brink and the kiss receded like the tide.  Alec hugged Q tightly to him and tucked Q’s head beneath his chin.

“I’m not wrong to be fearful.  And you are a little shite.” Alec murmured.

“I know,” Q sighed.  They would be ok. “Let’s go inside.”


End file.
